The Lord's Prayer (Sister Janet Mead song)

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“Lord's Prayer”

Single by Sister Janet Mead
Released	1973
Recorded	1973
Genre	Rock, Contemporary Christian
Label	Festival, A&M (U.S.)

"The Lord's Prayer" is a rock setting of the Lord's Prayer with music by Arnold Strals recorded in 1973 by the Australian nun Sister Janet Mead. Mead was known for pioneering the use of contemporary rock music in celebrating the Roman Catholic Mass and for her weekly radio programs. This recording could be considered one of the links in the development of what would become known as contemporary Christian music.

The recording was produced by Martin Erdman and originally released by Festival Records in Australia. After reaching number three on the charts in Australia, it went on to become an international smash, selling nearly three million copies worldwide and making the upper reaches of the pop charts in territories as diverse as Canada, Japan, Brazil, Germany, and the United States.

In the United States, "The Lord's Prayer", picked up for American distribution by A&M Records (catalog number 1491, b/w "Brother Sun and Sister Moon"), entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 23, 1974, charted for thirteen weeks and reached a peak of number four in April. It was certified gold for sales of one million copies. The record also reached number two on the Adult Contemporary singles chart.

Mead was nominated for a Grammy for Best Inspirational Performance (although she lost to Elvis Presley's How Great Thou Art) and also became the first Australian artist to sell one million U.S. copies of a record produced in Australia. She donated all of her royalties from the recording's massive international sales to charity, and her record label used their share of the proceeds to build a new state-of-the-art recording studio.

Sister Janet re-recorded "The Lord's Prayer" in 1999 for her comeback album, A Time to Sing.